For a semi-educated farmer, Jacob was an extraordinary writer. His writing skills improved through the war. As with any warrior, he lost his innocence in combat. If he lamented that loss, he did so later in life (and I do think he did – at some point and time he redacted some of his notes on Sherman’s famed “March to the Sea” to exclude his original references to the burning and pillaging actions).
He mentions losing many tangibles during the war, but the one that stands out most to me is his lament of the loss of his dictionary after the Chickamauga campaign. In his letter of 8 April, 1864, he not only mentions that it had been stolen, he highlights the dictionary as “…a thing that I would not have lost for a good deal.”
He wrote not only for himself, but also for others – exchanging his literacy for services.
His letters show both the lack of his formal education and his determination to improve himself; every aspect of his writing improved through the years. I have elected to correct his spelling, capitalization and punctuation for readability. I’ve also ignored his inline corrections and mistakes where they add nothing to the story. I’ve included scans of his letters if you’d like to read the originals with the distractions provided by his “atals,” “horces,” “wers” and such – you may find his originals “har” to read but enjoyable “non” the “les.”
I hope you enjoy these letters as much as I have. – Chaplain Kevin Hostettler
- 1. Note on the Transcriptions
- 2. A Call to Arms – Letter 1
- 3. Shively Presentation & Transcript – Recorded in March of 2021 on my most recent deployment
- 4. Letter 2 – From Mary to Jacob (31 August, 1862)
- 5. Letter 3 – Jacob to “Sir” and Mary
- 6. To the Defense of Cincinatti
- 7. Some Background – Jacob, the 89th and the letters
- 8. Letter to Mary from Camp King, Ky – 7 Sept, 1862
- 10. Letter to Mary from Licking Battery, Kentucky – 13 Sept, 1862
- 9. Jacob’s Journeys – a brief travel log
- 11. Letter to Mary from Licking Battery, KY – (Numbered 4), 14 Sept, 1862
- 12. Letter to Mary from Camp Shailer, Covington, Ky – (Numbered 5) 18 Sept, 1862
- 13. Letter to Mary – Published in Pat Medert’s “Dear Companion” – 21 Sept, 1862
- 14. Letter to Mary – Published in Pat Medert’s “Dear Companion” – 28 Sept, 1862
- A REVIEW: A Worse Place Than Hell
- Postbellum Coffee and Tea Consumption in the United States
- Nashville’s Maxwell House & Joel Cheek’s Coffee Empire
- Fort Mitchell, Kentucky – 5 Sept, 1862
- Kanawah Falls – 5 Nov, 1862
- General Hospital, Gallipolis Ohio – Jan 1863
- Jacob’s Visit to Maxwell House (aka, Zollicoffer Barracks) – Nashville, Tennessee
- Tullahoma Campaign – Taking Middle Tennessee.
- Chickamauga – Jacob’s Regiment is nearly destroyed
- Missionary Ridge – The Tide Turns
- Rocky Face Ridge – One of Jake’s Roughest Days
- Kennesaw Mountain – The death of a friend
- A Letter from Chaplain James Sargent to Jacob Shively during the Atlanta Campaign
- Marching Through Georgia – Jacob’s perspective
- Lincoln’s Christmas Present from Sherman – Savanah
- Grand Review and Touring D.C.
- An Interactive Shively Experience
- The Efficacy of the Civil War Chaplaincy:
A Thousand Thunders 